Monday, April 21, 2008

Hymn of the Week: The Sweetest Name

This past Sunday I heard a hymn I was quite unfamiliar with. It's not a new one; it has been around for about 150 years. The words, like all good hymns, point toward God; the music is likewise appropriate. Meditate on what this George W. Bethune hymn says:

The Sweetest Name

There is no name so sweet on earth,
No name so sweet in heaven,
The name, before His wondrous birth,
To Christ the Saviour given.

Refrain:
We love to sing of Christ our King,
And hail Him blessed Jesus!
For there's no word ear ever heard
So dear, so sweet, as "Jesus!"

And when He hung upon the tree,
They wrote this name above Him;
That all might see the reason we
For evermore must love Him.

So now, upon His Father's throne,
Almighty to release us
From sin and pain, He gladly reigns,
The Prince and Saviour, Jesus.

O Jesus! by that matchless name
Thy grace shall fail us never;
Today as yesterday the same,
Thou art the same forever.

2 comments:

Roger said...

I've never heard of that song before either. At the T4G conference we sang an Isaac Watts song that I had never heard before but which deserves to be a standard in my opinion. It's called "How Sweet and Awful is This Place". I've posted the lyrics on my blog here.

Thanks for reminding us of great Biblical songs.

Ken said...

The tune to The Sweetest Name can be found at:

http://www.lifefebc.com/resources/midihgg.htm

It is #33.